Wednesday, December 24

I am taking a short break from blogging to enjoy this special time of the year with my family ♡ We are staying in Tokyo this year, it's nice as well to take the time to explore this amazing city and of course get the house ready for the new year ♡ I wish you all a Merry Christmas, talk to you soon!

Thursday, December 18

The marathon of the last two weeks of school before Christmas is finally over, and I am excited to share the pictures of the last series of workshops for 2014. I teamed up once more with Chikako Yamamoto of DDBistro and Niki's Kitchen and hosted three cookie decoration workshops on the Christmas theme. The house was all decorated for the occasion, and I served a home-cooked lunch as always. On the menu this time in December: roasted carrots in a parsley & butter sauce, chicken cooked in wine vinegar served with jasmine rice and a chocolate cupcake with a peppermint frosting.

I would like to extend a special thank you to Nao Lincoln who assisted with the photography once again and provided her precious help.

Friday, December 5

How are you doing? I have been playing catch up so far, feeling more energised than last week (and the week before). Temperatures in Tokyo have dropped however, and it looks like winter is here to stay!

Maybe because I was thinking of how good a summer I spent in France this year, I realised that I had not yet posted the pictures of the workshop I organised in Paris in August for my lovely girlfriends. Based on a DIY project created for Tukutte magazine for their June 2014 issue, we customised hand-woven Mexican pouches (from Trensa) in the most colourful and creative ways. I had a bunch of lining fabrics scraps from my years at fashion school, and they were just perfect for this little project. I gave simple directions regarding the technique to customise the pouches and everyone came up with their very own unique design. I was amazed to see to see such variety of ideas, they rock!

Having lived in Asia for so long now (10 years), it's easy to forget how beautiful and breath-taking European cities truly are. So every year I make a point to go back and soak in all the majestic architecture and beauty at [nearly] every corner... Are you with me on this one?

I had brought the pouches all the way from Japan, anticipating this friendly get-together while I was going to be in Paris. My friend Laure (picture below), a talented and well-traveled interior architect, hosted the workshop at her stylish apartment located between le canal de l'Ourcq and les Buttes Chaumont (East of Paris). We met 8 years ago in Singapore while we were both working there. She's always resourceful and has wise advices about everything in life. Her passion after design? Yoga.

Laure is also passionate about having a healthy lifestyle and she's encouraged me to make some necessary changes at home. Everything seems so effortlessly chic and zen at her home, it's very relaxing to spend time together.

Now meet Rosy (picture below), the founder and designer behind Belgian label Kinses, another of my closest friends. I was extremely happy to see her again after two years. We met at the fashion school in Paris in 2000 and also went to Italy together. She's extravagant, creative and so much fun! We most certainly share a passion for (very good) food and colourful fashion. And Italy. When we are together we can giggle for hours about the most childish things while eating chocolate, or cake, or both.

It's important for me to see my girls at least once a year, and it usually happens in Paris where most (but not all) of them live. I studied in the city of lights for a year before moving to Italy and lived on and off for maybe another year, which isn't that much, but I have some crazy happy memories of my time there...

I may not be able to run a workshop without a delicious lunch anymore. This workshop was no exception, however I wasn't the one behind the stove this time. Laure worked her magic and prepared a tasty, light and mouth-watering vegetarian lunch for us. And since no lunch is complete without dessert, let me introduce you to our baking fairy for the day...

I have met Blandine (picture below) while being a sales assistant at Claudie Pierlot, the shop that was located rue du Faubourg Montmartre, in between jobs. We clicked immediately as we have a shared passion for jewellery and Japan - among many other things. Blandine is eternally optimistic, a bout-en-train and a very creativesoul as well. She's currently creating fancy jewellery and she has the best sales & customer service skills I have ever witnessed. What a sweetie!

Organising a workshop while spending time with your friends is the best way to spend any afternoon at home. We could chat endlessly and catch up with each other's lives while sharing great food and wine. No one to tell us we were too noisy, or too slow. We could laugh to our heart content and despite the many hours spent at home, still feel very productive with our day - and energetic enough to go out in the evening.

So the next time you plan a get-together with your friends, make it extra special and celebrate the event that brought you together. And no matter how far you live from each other, remember their birthdays and let them know how special they are to you ♥︎

Tuesday, December 2

Last weekend my daughter Chloe, her friend and myself attended an Christmas origami workshop at Sugar Town shop. I initially planned to spend some mother-daughter quality time with her, then we invited a friend to join us. It was raining heavily that day, but we slowly made our way to the shop, which is located near Omotesando. We had a really nice time together with other participants and teacher Yoshida Tsuji. The girls were over the moon crafting together for 2 hours, and they came up with their very own ideas, adding details here and there.

After what the sun was back, and we went for stroll in Harajuku nearby, and had an ice cream!

Monday, December 1

How have you been? I wonder how many of you have been busy cooking for Thanksgiving, I hope you all had fun times with your families.

I wasn't feeling too well last week, thus the lack of posts and overall slow activity on all of my social media. I am a bit better now, and I have photos of the last workshop to show you! They were all taken by my trusted photographer Nao Lincoln, I am so thankful for her help!

The theme of this workshop was the Mini Me dolls, and I had started to prep up the house for Christmas - minus the Christmas tree which we made yesterday. I will share more inspiration on this very topic later on the blog... Enjoy the photos!

An embroidered Christmas decoration made last year

Participants could choose their favorite color combination!

A rare photo of me teaching - thanks Nao, loving it!

Here are the wonderful dolls created by each participants!

I always serve a warm, home cooked lunch after my workshops, and on the menu this month was:

➵ a vegetable soup

➵ a Moroccan couscous, cooked my style

➵ a vanilla flavoured panna cotta with its red berry sauce

And I served a hot chocolate & sesame/ chocolate cookies at mid-workshop to cheer everyone up!

My Moroccan couscous, rich and very very tasty!

Vanilla flavoured panna cotta with red berry sauce

I would like to thank everyone who attended this workshop, we had a wonderful moment all together!